Sunday, October 13, 2013

The Dress & The Date

It's been ten days since my left hand got a little prettier and I said YES to my favorite person ever. I'd always imagined that it would take a while to get down to business and get the wedding planning going, but the past ten days have proven that I was wrong... and have also proven that you are never too old to play with sidewalk chalk.




The Dress

On Wednesday, on my way to class, I stopped at the San Marcos outlet mall to get some lotion at the Victoria's Secret outlet. I wandered around for a while, got my $3 lotion, and went on my way. As I still had an hour before I needed to get to campus, I thought I'd start testing the waters and try on a white dress or two. I went to Neiman Marcus Last Call and grabbed all of the white/ivory gowns under $350 that I could find (which ended up being four gowns).

There I was, in my (okay, Ryan's) Pollos Hermanos T-Shirt, flip flops, and messy bun, trying on wedding dresses by myself. I got a friend -- Claudia -- to agree to respond quickly to picture texts in case I needed feedback. The first dress was really pretty! Claudia agreed. "I like the back!" she said. I hung that dress back up, not quite in love, and tried on the second dress. Without going into much detail so RG will still be surprised, it is not the dress I would have imagined I'd wear on my wedding day. As I've described it to my friends before, it is the kind of dress I would see on Pinterest and pin it thinking there's no way I could afford this.

I slipped the dress on, struggled to zip it up completely, and left my fitting room to go to the big mirrors. The fitting room attendants then became my temporary "Say Yes To The Dress" posse. They ooh-ed and aah-ed and zipped me up. I loved this dress! It's not too different, right? No! It's kind of like, vintagey, right? Oh absolutely! Gorgeous! I so appreciated the support of the strangers and I was so glad I got to share my THIS IS IT moment with them. I told them about my very recent engagement and they couldn't believe how quickly I found the dress... I couldn't believe it either! I didn't even bother trying on the other two dresses. I said yes to the dress! Then I went to class.

Lady Mary of Downton Abbey
whose classiness is unmeasurable
The dress is very "me," as Taylor and Megan put it when I tried it on for them an hour later in the Catholic Student Center bathroom. When I say "me," I mean that:
1. It is not poofy
2. It is not mermaid
3. It is modest
4. It is Downton-ey, IMHO
5. It was not a million dollars

I think that maybe the most "me" thing about the dress is that I, a TJ Maxxinista with an eye for clearance finds and $5 7 For All Mankind jeans, found the perfect dress for $130. Yes, $130 at Neiman's Last Call. It is fitting that my dream would come true on a clearance rack... with an additional 30% off sale going on. Mimi would be so proud of me!

The Date

Another myth I believed was that finding the date would take a lot of calculated research and communication with venues. Also, everyone has their own opinion of what the "perfect date" actually is:

WELL, seven days after that magical morning in Jarrell, Ryan and I went to Our Lady of Wisdom (formerly known as the CSC) and found out that it was available for our ceremony and rehearsal. Ten minutes in the church talking with Alex and that was that. We then drove ten minutes down the road to Three Dudes Winery where we met with Arielle, talked about venue details, and decided on that. So, within seven days, we had our rehearsal & rehearsal dinner venue, church, reception venue, and -- we think -- our catering all set. So, to quote a once popular red button, that was easy... and Miss Rhode Island was off by a day. The perfect date is really April 26!

The journey continues, as RG and I try to figure out what to call the color we plan to use for ties/dresses. Is it aqua? Aquamarine? Teal? Turquoise? Seafoam? Tiffany's blue but with a little less green? Color terminology has been the most frustrating thing about this whole wedding planning process, so that rocks. I am so excited to get all these little details worked out and I can't wait until the big day. Or rather, I can't wait until the millions of "big days" to follow.

Last night, we sat on the porch of his parents house and developed these characters named Peter & Candace, who are imaginary rodents that live in the tree in the front yard. Peter works for Liberty Mutual and Candace stays home with the kids. It was a ridiculous moment that I wouldn't expect anyone else to understand because, honestly, we didn't even understand how this joke began or why it continued, but it was a tiny glimpse of the rest of our lives when I get to be RG's wife and make stupid jokes about tree hamsters and cat doctors (one of RG's favorites) every single day! Life is good.

( only 194 now )



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